Women’s Basketball

BIDDEFORD, Maine — The University of New England roared out to a 26-6 cushion midway through the first half and never looked back, as the top-seeded Nor’easters finished off a 69-48 victory over No. 5 Endicott College in the semifinal round of the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Women’s Basketball Championship played Thursday evening (Feb. 21) at the Harold Alfond Forum.

With their 18th consecutive win, the Nor’easters (23-4) move on to face third-seeded Salve Regina University (a 69-48 winner over No. 2 Roger Williams University) in the championship game on Saturday. Tip time between UNE and the Seahawks will be 2 p.m.

First-year Lauren Hayden (Chantilly, Va.) led three Big Blue players in double figures with 17 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the floor. She also corralled seven steals in the game, bringing her total on the year to 93 — the highest single-season mark in UNE history.

Hayden got the night started with three free throws in the opening minute, before first-year Sadie DiPierro (South Portland, Maine) knocked down a three-pointer to make it 6-0. White put the Gulls on the board moments later, but Gribbin added two more from the charity stripe, and DiPierro connected from long range once more to force an Endicott timeout at 11-2 with 3:48 gone.

The visitors scored right out of the break, but only managed another two points over the ensuing six minutes as UNE built a 20-point lead (26-6). Hayden (7), Gribbin (6), DiPierro (6), and Suggs (5) accounted for the hosts’ initial 24 points.

The margin reached as high as 29 before final basket of the period went for the Gulls, making it a 40-13 difference at halftime. EC shot just 24 percent (5 of 21) and turned the ball over 15 times in the opening 20 minutes.

Endicott could only get back as close as 20 (49-29, 51-31) in the second frame.

Suffolk 53, Saint Joseph’s 45

BOSTON – The Suffolk University women’s basketball team defeated the St. Joseph’s College Monks, 53-45 on Thursday evening in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) semifinal round of the league’s playoff tournament.

Junior Jennifer Ruys (Wallingford, Conn.) led all scorers with 14 points to pace the Rams as they will now head to Emmanuel College on Saturday in the conference finals.

It was a tightly contested battle as both teams exchanged lead change on eight separate occasions throughout the game.

Neither team could find much of an offensive rhythm in the first half as they combined to shoot 28-percent from the field in the opening period with Suffolk taking a slim 23-19 lead into the break.

The Monks would come out in the second half scoring seven straight points to take a brief 28-25 lead when junior Lindsay Moore (Barrington, N.H.) put in a layup down low in the paint.

Both teams would continue to go back and forth over the following minutes with senior Jacqueline Vienneau (Salem, N.H.) striking on her lone three-pointer of the game at the 13 minute mark to put Suffolk back up by three points, 33-30.

Moore and the Monks would come back however as she once again put in another layup as part of a six-point second half as both teams stood at a 33-33 standstill with thirteen minutes remaining.

Junior Dominique Demar (Colchester, Conn.) made the next Suffolk basket and that would be the last time the Rams trailed in the contest. A 10-2 run by the Rams capped off by a jumper from the free-throw line off the hands of freshman Megan Murphy (South Windsor, Conn.) would make it a 43-35 game at the 8:18 mark as Suffolk grabbed their largest lead of the night with an eight point spread.

Junior Abby Young (North Yarmouth, Me.) got the Monks back within four points at the four minute mark when her layup made it a 48-44 game but the Rams were able to hold off St. Joseph’s only allowing a free-throw over the final minutes of the game to seal off the victory.

Ruys finished the evening with a double-double as she also led all rebounders with 11 boards to go along with her 14 points.

The Rams held a slim margin on the glass at 47-45 as they have won 17 of 20 contests this season where they have outrebounded their opponents.

Thursday night’s game was also the thirteenth time this season Suffolk has held an opponent under 50 points scoring and eleventh time this year the Rams have held a team under 30-percent shooting in the contest.

Junior Theresa Hendrix (Scarborough, Me.) finished the evening with a team-high 10 points, while freshman Morgan Cahill (Yarmouth, Me.) netted eight on 4-for-9 shooting from the field. Hendrix, Cahill and Moore each collected six rebounds on the evening for the Monks.

A total of eight Monks’ players worked their way onto the scoring sheet Thursday evening recording a point in the defeat.

Sophomore Shelby Santini (Winchester, Mass.) and senior Lindsey Rogers (Gloucester, Mass.) paced the Rams in the first half as they each scored seven points. Santini finished the night with 13 points and a pair of steals, while Rogers had nine points.

The loss ends the year for the Monks who entered the tournament as the number three seed with a 9-3 conference record. They round out the 2012-13 season with an overall mark of 16-11.

The Rams now improve to a 21-6 overall mark on the year as Thursday night’s win set the school record for victories in a season by a Suffolk University Basketball team, men or women.

The second seeded Rams (10-2 GNAC) will now try to end the dominance Emmanuel College has held over the GNAC over the years on the Women’s Basketball side. The top-seeded Saints (12-0 GNAC) will be looking to claim their seventh consecutive league title, and 12th in the past 13 seasons. Saturday’s meeting will be the sixth time the two teams have squared off in the GNAC Tournament, and fourth time both will be playing for the league title. The Saints have not lost a game to a GNAC opponent since February 11, 2009 (Emerson College), while they hold an eight game winning streak over Suffolk.

With the victory, Anna Maria advances to the GNAC Championship game for the second-consecutive season and will host reigning conference champion Albertus Magnus College in the title game on Saturday at 2:00 PM.

For the AMCATS, senior Anthony Click (Springfield, Mass.) dropped a game-high 25 points, including six three-pointers, and Javier Bristol (Haverhill, Mass.) also played well, scoring 10 points on 5-of-9 shooting from the floor while leading the AMCATS with six rebounds, three assists and four steals. Junior Joseph Barillo (Dania Beach, Fla.) netted 10 points while sophomore Hugh Daye (Worcester, Mass.) contributed seven points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals off the bench.

The two teams matched up evenly through the opening ten minutes of the game, with the AMCATS clinging to a two-point lead at 17-15. Post grad Brad Peterson (North Kingstown, R.I.) converted a three-point play in the paint and the AMCATS had their biggest lead of the first half at 20-15. The Monks responded with a jumper by Medeiros and a trey from Simonds to even the score at 20 with just under seven minutes remaining in the half.

The Monks’ lead swelled to 29-24 after another Medeiros three-pointer, but Peterson made a pair of freebies to cut the hosts’ deficit to 31-28 heading into intermission.

Simonds led all first half scorers with 12 points and the Monks held a healthy 22-11 advantage on the boards. Anna Maria shot a dismal 34.4 percent from the field compared to the Monks’ 50.0 percent effort from the floor in the first stanza.

The Monks opened the second half with a 9-6 run to push their lead to 40-34 at the 16-minute mark, but Click drained four three-pointers during a 23-6 Anna Maria run that closed with 7:36 remaining when Daye converted a layup to extend the AMCATS’ lead to 57-46.

Simonds hit a jump shot on the following SJC possession to cut the Monks’ deficit to nine points (57-48) with 7:09 left, but Anna Maria answered with a Bristol layup 31 seconds later and would enjoy a double-digit lead for the remainder of the contest.

Anna Maria held a 21-6 advantage in points scored off turnovers and committed just nine turnovers – as opposed to 19 miscues by the Monks – on the evening.

Baseball

Ferrum 7, UMPI 2

FERRUM, Va. — Taryn Hayden’s 2-RBI single in the bottom of the third inning drove in the eventual game-winning run as Ferrum College picked up a 7-2 non-conference baseball win over Maine Presque Isle this afternoon at Panther Field.

Hayden went 2-3 with two RBI, while Tyler Faubert pitched the third inning to earn the win. The Panthers threw eight different pitchers, including starter Chris Walker.

Presque Isle had a great opportunity to make some noise in the 5th. Down 3-1, they put the first three batters on base. Alex Csiernik (Jr./Hamilton, Ontario Canada) walked. Justin Bergeron (Jr./Tiverton, RI) and Cam Morrell (Jr./Harpswell, ME) followed with singles. With the bases loaded and nobody out, Shane Smithhit into a fielder’s choice scoring Csiernik and cutting the deficit to 3-2. However with one out and runners on at the corners, Panther pitcher Adam Duncan buckled down and got Jordan Duffy (Sr./Fort Augustus PEI, Canada) to hit into a 3-6-3 doubleplay to end the rally.